Girls basketball: Balanced Holy Family attack topples Lutheran

Tigers share the load in Metro League win

If you would have told coach Ron Rossi that his team would be up 14 points at halftime against Class 2A No. 4 Lutheran and only have three points from sophomore scoring machine Katie Chavez, he would have been tickled pink.

And by the way, those three points from Chavez came on a 47-foot heave at the first quarter buzzer that capped off a 9-0 run to finish the first 8 minutes and would ultimately be the catalyst in the Tigers' 56-40 win over the Lions in a key Metro League match up on Wednesday night.

"We knew that out post players have improved immensely and we had little moments during all the games in December, but we never had the whole package, where all three of them really contributed," said Rossi, who got 25 points from three starters not named Chavez against the Lions. "When the Chavez sisters are playing well and the inside players are playing well, we are pretty tough offensively."

Megan McGillin, Maggie Spitzer and Claudia Pena picked up the offensive slack for the Tigers in the first half, scoring 15 of Holy Family's 30 points.

"When we play as a team, we know that is how we are going to beat these teams that bring their all to us," Spitzer said. "When they are all over (Katie) like that, that is what we like to go to, but her passing, especially with people all over her, was awesome."

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The Lions (7-1, 1-1) didn't panic going to the second half and midway through the fourth quarter had cut the Holy Family lead to 42-37. Coach Mark Duitsman's team, which had played nail-biters against 2A powerhouses like Akron and Peyton, knew they could hang in a tight game and was forced to foul late to keep things close.

"Holy Family showed what good teams do down the stretch and they extended the lead late and got it done," Duitsman said. "Even coming into the game we took a look at the list of who we would foul if we had to and we knew if it came down to that, it would be pick your poison."

The Tigers hit 10 of 14 free throws down the stretch and closed the game on a 14-3 run against the defending league champs.

Katie Chavez, who hit 6 of 6 from the line in the fourth quarter (and is 16 for 16 in her last two games), finished with 13 points to lead the Tigers. Spitzer had 11 and McGillin had 10.

It was just the balance that Rossi wanted to see, especially with two tough games coming up against Faith Christian on Friday and next week against Peak to Peak.

"Sometime you get content with the lead and you quit doing the things you did earlier and we got a little careless with the ball in the third quarter," Rossi said. "But overall our offense was pretty efficient today."

Vigil led Lutheran with 13 points and Morgan Barone finished with 10, but the loss was something Duitsman and his team can build on the rest of the way.

"We are in the business of getting better and sometimes you need to get tested like this and experience a loss to find out who you really are and what your weaknesses are and then you attack those," Duitsman said. "As a coach I don't mind one loss at all. I'm thankful for the experience for that late game against a good opponent, that's stuff you can't simulate in practice. You can talk about and do all the drill you want, but there is no simulation for experiences like that."

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